| 19 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Grace and Issac Te Kahika The 76ha property sits ten kilometres south of Dannevirke. The chicory eased summer pressure considerably and the oats allowed her to strip-graze cows through winter with supplementary hay, keeping the cows off the main part of the farm and dramatically reducing pugging. Fertiliser is another focus. “In the past it’s been the bare minimum,” she explains, “so now it will be about having a solid fertiliser plan throughout the year.” She applies urea, ammonium sulphate and a fish and seaweed liquid emulsion using a tow-and-fert unit from Metalform in Dannevirke, targeting paddocks that most need attention in spring and autumn. The farm runs a low input nitrogen system, at around 20 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare. Grace has also brought calving forward by ten days, to 25 July, to get milk in the vat earlier in the season. She mates for just seven weeks and calves for five, a compact system that suits the farm. Her mating programme has transformed its calf profile: bobby calf numbers have dropped from 45 per cent to just two per cent. She uses sexed semen for replacements and Charolais semen for beef calves over four weeks, finishing with short-gestation semen. For heifer calvers, a miniature Dexter bull produces small, easilybirthed calves ideal for lifestyle blocks. “It gives the cows a nicer start to their dairy farming life and the smaller calves are great for the kids to take to calf days.” Issac, who works as a fencer, helps Grace on the dairy farm and manages their 140-hectare leased beef block about 25 minutes away carrying young dairy stock, beef heifers and grazers, is coming on board to help this season. “He’s a sheep and beef farmer so he put it in our wedding vows that he was never going to milk the cows,” she says with a laugh, “so he has broken his vows and is slowly dipping his toe into the dairy farming life. It will be interesting to see how that goes.” The couple’s two sons, Quinn, 9, and Jake, 7, are equally enthusiastic about farm life, though their loyalties are yet to be settled. “It’s just a debate if they will want to be a dairy farmer like mum or a sheep and beef farmer like dad,” says Grace. “I think they’re still working that one out.” PROUDLY SUPPORTING GRACE & ISAAC TE KAHIKA daveb@bcae.co.nz Dannevirke 027 437 4711 bcae.co.nz 063747701 27HighSt, Dannevirke “He has broken his vows and is slowly dipping his toe into the dairy farming life. It will be interesting to see how that goes.”
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